This invention relates to an electric shaver having two rows of outer blades bowed into arch configurations in outer blade holders, and in particular to an electric shaver with outer blade holders connected such that they can move up and down independently.
An electric shaver with plate-like outer blades bent into arch shapes has the characteristic that deep shaving can be achieved by making the outer blade radius of curvature small. This is because an outer blade bent with a small radius of curvature can be forcefully pressed against the skin over the small area of the curved tip. Further, an outer blade bent with a small radius of curvature can reduce unshaved whiskers and reliably give a clean shave by applying pressure against the skin with the curved tip. However, this has the drawback that when the outer blade radius of curvature is reduced, the area of contact of the outer blades with the skin is reduced, and large beard areas cannot be easily shaved by applying soft pressure to the skin with the outer blades. An electric shaver with two rows of outer blades has been developed to eliminate this problem (Japanese Patent Application 131229, 1991).
The electric shaver described in this patent application has two rows of outer blade holders, wherein each outer blade is bowed into its blade holder with a small radius of curvature. The two rows of outer blade holders are connected in a manner allowing them to move up and down. As shown in the diagrammatic representation of FIG. 11, both ends of the outer blade holders are connected to links 3. The central regions of the links 3 are in turn connected to the frame in a manner allowing see-saw motion. In this type of electric shaver, when the left outer blade holder of FIG. 11 is pushed down as indicated by arrow A, the right outer blade holder is pushed up as indicated by arrow B.
An electric shaver has also been developed wherein the outer blade holders are connected to the frame in a manner allowing each blade holder to move up and down independently, rather than dependently using a see-saw link.
These types of electric shavers have the characteristic that the two rows of outer blades continuously provide balanced pressure against the skin allowing a large area to be shaved. However, these types of electric shavers have the drawback that it is difficult to deeply shave in one area by pressing the tip of one outer blade row forcefully against the skin. The reason for this is that the two rows of outer blades are always pushed against the skin with balanced forces.
When shaving, it is desirable at first to softly apply pressure with the outer blade against a large area of skin. However, it is difficult to achieve a good, clean shave over the entire area of skin in this fashion without leaving unshaved whiskers. This is because the skin has three-dimensional protrusions and recessions, and because whiskers do not always grow in the same manner. Whiskers in recessed areas or regions where the direction of beard growth makes shaving difficult are not easily removed, and the result is blotches of unshaved whiskers. In order to reliably remove whiskers in these areas, it is necessary to forcefully apply local pressure of an outer blade to the region.
Since currently used electric shavers with two rows of outer blades apply balanced pressure to the skin from both blades, they have the drawback that the curved tip of a single outer blade cannot be forcefully pressed against the skin. This means that when it becomes necessary to remove stubborn whiskers, it is difficult to forcefully press a small portion of the outer blade against the skin. Therefore these shavers have the drawback that remaining whiskers cannot be removed by shaving deeply at certain locations.
The present invention was developed to eliminate the previously mentioned drawbacks. It is thus a primary object of the present invention to provide an electric shaver with two rows of outer blades that can apply light pressure to the skin with both outer blades, and further, when necessary apply strong pressure against the skin in a small region with a single outer blade to reliably shave difficult-to-shave regions.